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Eugene Asti’s pioneering series, containing a large number of first recordings and rarities, concludes with this fifth volume, a generous two CDs for the price of one. It places Mendelssohn firmly in the canon of the great Lieder composers.» More

How sweetly the spring sounds And kisses the tender flowers, How the fink sings in the shade And greets his nearby love, How the lights quiver and flit, How the green grass rejoices, How the pine trees spread their boughs, And how the lime sheds its blossom!

In the lime’s sweet scent, In the pine trees’ murmuring, In the play of Summer breezes, She glitters like a Spring bride. But forest sounds, birdsong, Fragrant blossoms—cease your activities, Light—grow dark, you will never Succeed in resembling her!

For his Minnelied Op 47 No 1, published in 1839, Mendelssohn turned to the poetry of Ludwig Tieck, who was one of the founding fathers of German Romanticism. The poem is a lover’s compliment—‘Minne’ is the Germanic version of courtly love in the Middle Ages—to a beloved who outshines all of spring and summer’s beauty. The catalogue of Nature’s beauties begins with a comparison to a stream, and Mendelssohn seizes the opportunity to create a gently chromatic babbling brook in the piano against the backdrop of the springtime key of A major (the key also of Der Blumenstrauss Op 47 No 5, Sonntagslied Op 34 No 5 and O Jugend, o schöne Rosenzeit! Op 57 No 4), transposed to F major for a baritone in the present performance.

The sun is rising o’er the hills, A flock of lambs can be heard from afar: My beloved, my lamb, My sun and my joy, Could I but see you once more. I gaze up with searching aspect, “Farewell my child, From here I part! Farewell my child!” In vain! not a curtain stirs: She still lies asleep And dreams of me.

The green tree eavesdrops blissfully And dips all its twigs Into the beautiful spring dream, Into the full circle of life.

A little flower blooms somewhere, Drinking from the light dew; In its hiding place it trembles happily, The sky having remembered it.

In the secret leafy night, The bird’s heart is struck By the magic power of love And he sings a cherished wish.

Of all the happy spring events Not a word of heaven is mentioned, Only its silent, warming glance Has inflamed happiness.

Thus in grim winter Which held my soul in bondage Your glance so silent and warm Reached through to me with the power of spring.

An irresistibly exuberant setting which sends the spirits soaring aloft, this is quite simply the finest of several songs of this title composed by Mendelssohn, capturing as it does an exultant sense of unstoppable forward momentum (as opposed to mere speed) which characterizes nearly all of his best work.

We end with an adage appropriate for this occasion: the Volkslied Op 47 No 4, published in 1839, on a poem by Ernst von Feuchtersleben, a Viennese psychiatrist, philosopher and poet. ‘Es ist bestimmt in Gottes Rat’’ (‘It is decreed in God’s law’) was published in his Gedichte of 1836. After three melancholy verses about Time that robs us of those we love, the song ends with the consolatory words ‘until we meet again!’.

Slumbers and dreams of a future time Will soon unfold to you, Dream, my child, of pleasure and sorrow, Dream of pleasant things! Enjoy, also, the many comings and goings. And new ones always will follow, Stay patient!

Slumber and dream of spring’s power, See all the blossoming and growing, Hear the birdsong resounding in the grove, Heaven’s love on Earth. Today is over and no longer concerns you, Spring will also bloom and shine for you. Stay patient!

A setting of disarming simplicity yet full of imaginative touches. The way the voice recalls the piano’s opening phrase at ‘Bleibe nur fein geduldig!’ subtly adds to the reflective nature of the text. But of particular interest is a Mendelssohnian harmonic trademark when composing in B flat major whereby he moves quickly through a ravishing chord sequence to land in C minor. In the first stanza this occurs at the words ‘Mögen, auch viele noch kommen und gehen’. Another notable occurrence is in the glorious soprano aria ‘Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele’ from the Hymn of Praise.